Saving Seafood

Trump administration to buy back another energy company’s offshore wind leases for 4 more projects

June 18,2026 — The Trump administration said Wednesday it’s buying back another energy company’s U.S. offshore wind leases for four more wind projects, as it seeks to discourage the expansion of wind energy in favor of fossil fuels.

The latest deal brings the total amount spent on these agreements to nearly $2.6 billion.

Chicago-based Invenergy has agreed to end its four offshore wind leases that were very early in development in exchange for reimbursements of lease fees totaling $765 million. The company had already canceled the largest of the four in November, Leading Light Wind off New Jersey’s coast. The others are off the coasts of Maine and California. It will invest that money in natural gas and geothermal ventures that can be built more quickly instead.

By buying back leases, the Republican administration is stopping offshore wind farms that President Donald Trump does not support, and redirecting the money to fossil fuel projects that he does. It adopted this strategy after federal courts thwarted Trump’s efforts to stop offshore wind development through executive action. Trump has frequently talked about his hatred of wind power and calls turbines ugly.

Read the full article at The Associated Press

Trump administration walks back plan to cut ocean observation after legislative effort

June 18, 2026 — The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has walked back plans to dismantle a deep-ocean observation system after pushback from members of Congress.

The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) announced recently the administration was planning to dismantle the USD 368 million (EUR 321 million) Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI). The OOI consisted of multiple underwater monitoring arrays, which provide openly accessible data to oceanographers, researchers, educators, and the public and contributed to everything from storm forecasting to fishery health.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Trump Administration to Buy Back Four More Offshore Wind Leases

June 18, 2026 — Continuing its strategy of canceling offshore wind projects by buying back the leases in exchange for other energy investments, the Department of the Interior announced its third agreement. The administration has committed nearly $2.6 billion to canceling offshore wind leases even as the strategy is being challenged in court and by regulators.

Invenergy will voluntarily terminate four offshore wind leases it purchased in the past from the government and will redirect the investments toward other domestic energy sources, said the Department of the Interior. It valued the four leases at $765 million for one lease in the New York Bight for a New Jersey wind farm, two for floating offshore wind farms in Maine, and one off the coast of California.

The largest and most advanced of the projects was Leading Light Wind, which had submitted its offshore wind project bid to the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) in August 2023. It called for up to 2.4 GW, which would have made it the largest in the United States. It would have been more than 40 miles off the coast near Atlantic City, New Jersey, and included a battery storage option that would provide 253 MW of advanced energy storage, but it had yet to submit a Construction and Operations Plan proposal to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

Read the full article at The Maritime Executive

Governor welcomes presidential proclamation supporting American commercial fishing in the Pacific

June 16, 2026 — Gov. David M. Apatang welcomed President Donald J. Trump’s June 11, 2026, signing of the Executive Proclamation Restoring American Commercial Fishing in the Pacific, which restores access to designated fishing grounds within certain Pacific marine national monuments and reaffirms science-based fisheries management under existing federal law.

The proclamation includes portions of the Mariana Trench Marine National Monument and places these fisheries within the established management framework of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, NOAA Fisheries, and the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council.

The action recognizes the important role Pacific communities play in the stewardship and management of ocean resources.

Read the full article at Marianas Variety

US Supreme Court declines to hear challenge to 2018 Trump tariffs on China

June 18, 2026 — The U.S. Supreme Court has denied to hear a case that targeted the 2018 Section 301 tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump during his first term.

Trump issued a series of Section 301 tariffs targeting Chinese goods, including seafood, in 2018, kicking off a trade war between the two countries. Those tariffs, launched as a means of combating alleged intellectual property theft, were maintained through the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden and currently still stand eight years later.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Pacific fishing reopening sparks call for local economic inclusion

June 16, 2026 — THE Uraali Refaluwasch Association wants U.S. territories in the Pacific to receive a fair and meaningful share of the economic benefits from the reopening of the marine monument to commercial fishing.

In his April 17, 2025 proclamation, President Donald Trump removed the Obama-era prohibition on commercial fishing within the boundaries of the Pacific marine monument.

URA Senior Advisor Melvin L.O. Faisao, in a letter to Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council Chairman Nathan Ilaoa, said he appreciates the Trump administration’s efforts to strengthen domestic fisheries, support seafood production, and expand economic opportunities throughout the Pacific.

At the same time, he said he believes “there is an important discussion that deserves continued attention: ensuring that Pacific communities and U.S. territories receive a fair and meaningful share of the economic benefits generated from these fisheries.”

Faisao noted that the president’s proclamation does not specifically address how the economic value derived from those resources will benefit the island communities most closely connected to them.

Read the full article at Marianas Variety

Trump signs order reopening protected Pacific waters to commercial fishing

June 15, 2026 — President Donald Trump signed a proclamation Thursday reopening large portions of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument to commercial fishing.

The proclamation lifts restrictions that had prevented U.S. commercial fishing in waters surrounding several remote U.S.-controlled islands and atolls in the central Pacific, including Wake Island, Johnston Atoll, Jarvis Island, Howland Island, Baker Island, Kingman Reef, and Palmyra Atoll.

Among those celebrating the proclamation was Pacific Seafood CEO Frank Dulcich, who spoke during Thursday’s signing ceremony at the White House.

Dulcich, whose company was founded in Portland and has grown into one of North America’s largest vertically integrated seafood companies, said the policy change would have real-world impacts for employees, fishermen, and coastal economies in Oregon and across the West Coast.

“We have 3,000 families that work with us and 715 fishing families in Oregon, Washington, California, and Alaska that depend on what we catch, what we process, and what we grow,” Dulcich told Trump. “You’ve given us access to these family wage jobs and these coastal communities where we’re usually the number one or number two employer in those cities and counties.”

According to the White House, the action is intended to “restore American commercial fishing in the Pacific” by reducing what it describes as unnecessary regulations that have limited domestic fishermen while foreign fleets continue operating nearby.

Read the full article at KATU

SBA and Office of Advocacy Applaud President Donald J. Trump’s Restoration of Pacific Fishing Grounds

June 15, 2026 — The following was released by the Office of Advocacy of the U.S. Small Business Administration:

Today, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and the Office of Advocacy (Advocacy) applauded President Donald J. Trump for restoring U.S. commercial fishing access in three Pacific marine national monuments covering nearly half a million square miles — a major win for small, family-owned fishing businesses and the coastal communities they support. By lifting blanket bans that kept American boats out of these productive waters, the President’s action reopens critical fishing grounds to U.S.-flagged vessels, strengthens America’s seafood supply, and helps U.S. fishermen compete on a more level playing field with foreign fleets, consistent with his April 2025 Executive Order on Restoring American Seafood Competitiveness.

“For years, Washington bureaucrats told American fishermen to tie up their boats while foreign fleets filled their nets with fish off our Pacific coast,” said SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler. “By restoring commercial access to these fishing grounds, President Trump is putting America’s fishermen first, strengthening our domestic seafood supply chain, and helping lower grocery costs for American families — while restoring the ability of small, family-owned businesses to grow, invest, and hire thanks to the President’s America First Fishing Policy.”

“The majority of American fishermen are small businesses, and the fishing industry is one of the most heavily regulated sectors of the economy,” said Advocacy Acting Chief Counsel Everett M. Woodel, Jr. “President Trump’s actions demonstrate his unwavering commitment to cutting regulatory red tape for the U.S. seafood industry.”

Yesterday’s proclamation is one of several steps the President and the Department of Commerce are taking under Executive Order 14276, which directs agencies to reconsider regulations that overly burden America’s commercial fishing, aquaculture, and fish processing industries. Earlier this year, the President also helped fishermen on the Atlantic coast by reopening the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts National Monument to commercial fishing, reversing Biden- and Obama-era designations that crushed local industries.

Marine national monuments are areas of the ocean where fishermen are prevented from catching fish. When wide swaths of the nation’s waters are declared off-limits to fishing, it has significant impacts on small businesses not only in the fishing industry, but also those that are supported by the fishing industry.

Earlier this year, Advocacy placed burdensome marine national monument and sanctuary designations on its “Small Businesses’ Most Wanted Reform” list, highlighting the heavy burdens these closures impose on small fishing enterprises. Commercial fishermen have participated in Advocacy roundtables and met with regional staff to explain how monument closures have limited their ability to earn a living, supply American seafood, and support crew jobs and local economies — especially in communities where fishing is the backbone of Main Street.

SBA and the Office of Advocacy will continue working on behalf of President Trump to restore American seafood competitiveness, ensure small fishing businesses have a strong voice in federal policymaking, and connect fishermen and shoreside small businesses with the capital they need to expand operations, upgrade vessels and equipment, and bring more American-caught seafood to market.

Trump opens additional areas of Pacific marine national monuments to commercial fishing

June 12, 2026 — U.S. President Donald Trump issued a proclamation opening roughly 500,000 square miles of Pacific marine national monuments to commercial fishing, continuing his push to roll back protections unilaterally enacted by his predecessors.

“President Trump is once again delivering for American fishermen by opening prized Pacific fishing grounds with this Executive Proclamation,” U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in a release. “By restoring commercial fishing in the remote Pacific, we are creating new economic opportunity for coastal communities and restoring U.S. seafood competitiveness.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Trump signs proclamation to open marine monuments to commercial fishing

June 12, 2026 — President Trump signed an executive proclamation Thursday aimed at restoring commercial fishing access in protected areas of the Pacific.

The nearly half a million square miles of ocean include zones of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

The expanded fishing grounds include:

  • The Islands Unit of the Mariana Trench Marine National Monument
  • The Mau Zone and Ho‘omalu Zone, and areas seaward of 50 nautical miles within the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument
  • Waters between 12 and 50 nautical miles surrounding Rose Atoll within the Rose Atoll Marine National Monument

Trump said the action removes unnecessary restrictions on American fishermen and U.S.-flagged fishing vessels, enhancing domestic seafood production and lowering prices.

“This will support millions of dollars in annual harvest,” Trump said during the signing in the Oval Office. “It will protect small local fisheries and coastal communities that depend on their livelihoods.”

“They will increase domestic seafood production to help lower costs for American communities — and you’re talking about millions, tens of millions of dollars of income,” he said.

Eric Kingma, the executive director of the Hawaii Longline Association, was among those present for the signing.

Read the full article at Hawaii News Now